Reply #27: And this in today . . . [View All]

[skip fox]

Britain and the US have combined to come up with entirely new explanations of why they went to war in
Iraq as inspectors on the ground prepare to report that there are no weapons of mass destruction there.

The "current and serious" threat of Iraq's WMD was the reason Tony Blair gave for going to war, but last
week the Prime Minister delivered a justification which did not mention the weapons at all. On the same
day John Bolton, US Under-Secretary of State for arms control, said that whether Saddam Hussein's
regime actually possessed WMD "isn't really the issue".

The 1,400-strong Iraq Survey Group, sent out in May to begin an intensive hunt for the elusive weapons,
is expected to report this week that it has found no WMD hardware, nor even any sign of active
programmes. The inspectors, headed by David Kay, a close associate of President George Bush, are likely
to say the only evidence it has found is that the Iraqi government had retained a group of scientists who
had the expertise to restart the weapons programme at any time.

Foreshadowing the report, Mr Bolton said the issue was not weapons, or actual programmes, but "the
capability that Iraq sought to have ... WMD programmes". Saddam, he claimed, kept "a coterie" of
scientists he was preserving for the day when he could build nuclear weapons unhindered by
international constraints. "Whether he possessed them today or four years ago isn't really the issue," he
said. "As long as that regime was in power, it was determined to get nuclear, chemical and biological
weapons one way or another. Until that regime was removed from power, that threat remained - that
was the purpose of the military action."

more…
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/story.jsp?story=441051